Metal Gear

Metal Gear is a series of video games by Konami Computer Entertainment. The Metal Gear series centers around Solid Snake, a genetically engineered soldier. As a member of an elite task force FOXHOUND, Snake penetrated and destroyed several terrorist organizations, including one led by Big Boss, his genetic father.

Further adventures involve his disarming a nuclear crisis on a remote island in Alaska (and killing his genetic brother in doing so), and helping, as a part of his NGO, Philanthropy, to document and eradicate Metal Gears, including Arsenal Gear, a supercenter for information and warfare built in the New York Harbor by the Patriots.

Big Boss: Solid Snake! I've been expecting you... I am the supreme commander of the FOXHOUND unit... And... The leader of the fortress of Outer Heaven, Big Boss! I gave this mission to you, a rookie, thinking I could use you to fool the rest of the world... But you were too good. You went too far! Solid Snake! I'm not going down alone. I'm taking you with me! Prepare to die!

Solid Snake: This is Solid Snake... Metal Gear has been destroyed. Operation Intrude N313 was a success! No big deal, job done, that's all... No big deal... I'm coming back now... OVER

Big Boss: ...can you hear me? Solid Snake... I'm not dead... Someday, I'll get even with you. Someday... we will meet again!

[Intro text]
Lt. Snake, we received information from our intelligence man at the enemy's base. They have a weapon. Is it Metal Gear, which you destroyed 3 years ago? Go to the enemy base with 2 men. The pilot knows the route.

Big Boss: You destroyed Metal Gear 1 and made me a cyborg. Now I want revenge.

Big Boss: The nightmares? They never go away, Snake. Once you've been on the battlefield, tasted the exhilaration, the tension... it all becomes part of you. Once you've awakened the warrior within... it never sleeps again. You crave ever bigger tensions, ever bigger thrills. As a mercenary, I'd think you would have realized that by now. You care nothing for power, or money, or even sex. The only thing that satisfies your cravings is war! All I've done is give you a place for it. I've given you a reason to live.

Naomi Hunter: Genes exist to pass down our hopes and dreams for the future through our children. Living is a link to the future. That's how all life works. Loving each other, teaching each other... that's how we can change the world. I finally realized it. The true meaning of life...

Gray Fox / Frank Jaeger: We're not tools of the government or anyone else! Fighting was the only thing... the only thing I was good at, but... At least I always fought for what I believed in...

Otacon / Hal Emmerich: The whole reason I got into science in the first place was because I was no good with people. I was scared of them. I was scared of life. I thought that I could never understand them because they're so illogical. But I've finally learned how to like people. I'm not afraid anymore.

Solid Snake: Life isn't just about passing on your genes. We can leave behind much more than just DNA. Through speech, music, literature and movies... what we've seen, heard, felt... anger, joy and sorrow... these are the things I will pass on. That's what I live for. We need to pass the torch, and let our children read our messy and sad history by its light. We have all the magic of the digital age to do that with. The human race will probably come to an end some time, and new species may rule over this planet. Earth may not be forever, but we still have the responsibility to leave what traces of life we can. Building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing.

Solidus Snake/George Sears: Jack, listen to me. We're all born with an expiration date. No one lasts forever. Life is nothing but a grace period - for turning our genetic material into the next generation. The data of life is transferred from parent to child. That's how it works. But we have no heirs, no legacy. Cloned from our father, with the ability to reproduce conveniently engineered out. What is our legacy if we cannot pass the torch? Proof of our existence - a mark of some sort. When the torch is passed on from parent to child... it extends beyond DNA; information is imparted as well. All I want is to be remembered. By other people, by history. The Patriots are trying to protect their power, their own interests, by controlling the digital flow of information. I want my memory, my existence to remain. Unlike an intron of history, I will be remembered as an exon. That will be my legacy, my mark on history. But the Patriots would deny us even that, I will triumph over the Patriots, and liberate us all. And we will become the "Sons of Liberty"!

The Boss: What about you, Jack? What's it going to be? Loyalty to your country, or loyalty to me? Your country, or your old mentor? The mission, or your beliefs? Your duty to your unit, or your personal feelings? You don't know the truth yet. But sooner or later you'll have to choose.

Snake: You're pretty good.

[EVA explains herself in audiotape to Snake]

EVA: Snake, listen to me. She didn't betray the United States. No, far from it. She was a hero who died for her country. She carried out her mission knowing full well what was going to happen. Self-sacrifice... because that was her duty.

[Snake is being honoured at the White House]

Lyndon B. Johnson: You are above even the Boss... I hereby award you the title of Big Boss. You are a true patriot. [Snake shakes Johnson's hand and walks out, past army officials and his team, without fanfare]

Unnamed bureaucrat: You know, we could use an infiltration unit like FOX in the army. Someone like him to handle our top-secret sneaking missions for us: a man who combines the qualities of a soldier and an agent.

EVA: The Boss' defection was a ruse set up by the US government. It was all a big drama staged by Washington so they could get their hands on the Philosopher's Legacy, and the Boss was the star of the show. They planned it so that they could get the Legacy that Colonel Volgin inherited and destroy the Shagohod at the same time. Only a legendary hero like The Boss could have earned Volgin's trust. Finding out where the Philosopher's Legacy was hidden was to be her greatest mission. Everything was going according to plan... but then something happened that no one could have predicted. Colonel Volgin fired an American-made nuclear warhead at Sokolov's research facility. Khrushchev demanded that the US government provide proof that it wasn't involved. They couldn't just abort the operation to steal the Legacy, so the operation itself was greatly expanded and revised. The authorities in Washington knew that in order to prove its innocence they'd have to get rid of The Boss and that one of their own would have to do the job. The public couldn't be allowed to find out about it, not ever. This, they concluded, would be the best way to keep the whole thing under wraps. The Boss wouldn't be allowed to come back home alive. And she wouldn't be allowed to kill herself. Her life would be ended by her most beloved disciple... that was the way the government wanted it. That was the mission she was given. And she had no choice but to carry it out... her death at your hands was a duty she had to fulfill. Out of duty, she turned her back on her own comrades. A lesser woman would have been crushed by such a burden. [Snake walks through a cemetery with a bunch of flowers] The taint of disgrace will follow her to her grave. Future generations will revile her: In America, as a despicable traitor with no sense of honor; and in Russia, as a monster who unleashed a nuclear catastrophe. She will go down in official history as a war criminal, and no one will ever understand her... that was her final mission. And like a true soldier, she saw it through the end. But I think she wanted you, of all people to know the truth. She wanted to live on in your memory. Not as a soldier, but as a woman. But... she was forbidden to tell you herself. And that's why she told me. [Snake puts his flowers and the Patriot by a headstone marked "In memory of a patriot who saved the world: 192?-1964"] Snake, history will never know what she did. No one will ever learn the truth. Her story, her debriefing... will endure only in your heart. [tearfully]Everything she did, she did for her country. She sacrificed her life and her honor for her native land. She was a real hero. She was a true patriot. [A tearful Snake salutes the headstone].

Hans: [to Snake] Are you familiar with the term "doppelganger"? Everyone has two personalities in them. One of them a persona for everyday public life, and the other the exact opposite. The personality lurking in one's subconscious is referred to as the "Shadow" in psychological terms. The Shadow negates its symmetrical opposite, the "Light" persona, and in some cases grows to the same level. If it manages to grow large enough, it takes on its own shape, separates from the body, and can walk around on its own. And that, my friend, is why we're both here.

La Clown: If I die here, it means I'm not the hero. The hero is supposed to survive to the end. So... I guess that makes me the villain. The villain is always supposed take the hero's side right before dying.

Alice: The Children of Hamelin looked up to you as a hero. You were a man created by those in power, and performed mighty works for them. The Legendary Hero -- Solid Snake. That's what we were always taught. [...] Our pledge was, "May me someday be great like the honorable and mighty Snake."

Lucy: You're a cloned soldier -- patterned after the legendary Solid Snake. We recovered his body from Lobito Island, and created you through a fusion of his cells and our data. You were our Model 3, Snake.

Venus: Don't worry about Snake. He's been to hell and back. He's a survivor, you know. Always has been, always will be.Takiyama: ...Venus: He'll be just fine. I'm always right about these things.

Dalton: What do you plan to do once your wounds heal up? Got any ideas?Snake: No plans. Just a personal goal.Dalton: And what would that be?Snake: To keep on living. All this time, I've been searching for my past. And now I know that I don't have one. I was manufactured in a lab. I'm not even a real human. I've got no past, and might not have much of a future. Nothing. But I'm alive. I was made to be a weapon. And I don't have squat to my name. But... as long as there's air in my lungs and blood in my veins, I'm gonna live. Right?Dalton: You're half right. You're way off about having nothing, though.

Naked Snake/Big Boss It was four years ago, in Mozambique. There was a child soldier fighting with a guerrilla group in the struggle for independence. He killed dozens of government soldiers with just a single knife. He'd throw the enemy off guard with the innocent frankness of a young boy. Then he'd prey on them with the cold cruelty of a hunter. He spoke a little German so his enemies called him, "Frank Jaeger"... the frank hunter.

[Gene addresses soldiers]

Gene: Soldiers, hear my words! The Cold War will soon be over. For the United States and the Soviet Union no longer have the strength or authority to shape the world as they seem fit. Even as America sinks deeper into the quagmire of the Vietnam War, her allies in the West have achieved tremendous economic growth. And with the collapse of its planned economy, Russia can no longer keep up with the financial demands of her vast army. But the end of the Cold War does not mean that peace will follow. Freed from the domination of the world's superpowers, nationalism will soon be the driving force behind global politics. And the ever-widening gap between rich and poor will fan the flames of hatred between nations. Nuclear weapons will slip from the superpowers' grasp and spread throughout the world. Soon no one will know when or where the nukes will come from. Today's ally may be tomorrow's bitter enemy. Or worse: the time may come when soldiers of the same country will kill their brothers, just like you are now. Who of you can say that tomorrow you won't be aiming your rifles at your neighbors? Your comrades? Your families? Is there no one who has a grudge against you? No one who mocks you? No one who really needs you? Is there truly no one out there who would kill you? One of my men is standing amongst you right now. His instructions are to kill you - for your betrayal. Your enemy is standing right beside you. [points at individual soldiers] Is it you?... Or perhaps you?... This planet is like a giant bomb. See how easily it blows itself to bits with a single nuclear warhead. Or rather, a single bullet. [laughs] There he is... It's the enemy!

Null: Why are you still alive? I used to get dreams, about my comrades. They would save me with strong arms and laughing voices. When I woke up from these dreams, I had nothing. No joy, no sorrow, no hatred, no memory. When I woke up from the darkness, all I saw were the bodies of men I've killed, lying in front of me. I know. Everyone dies. Crime. Disease. Accidents. War. No matter how good a man you are, no matter how good a soldier, there are no exceptions. Even if I don't kill them, they die. This world is full of death and yet you won't be killed. Why? Why do you still live? What do you hope to accomplish by living?

Old Snake: War has changed. It's no longer about nations, ideologies or ethnicity. It's an endless series of proxy battles, fought by mercenaries and machines. War, and its consumption of life, has become a well-oiled machine. War has changed. ID tagged soldiers carry ID tagged weapons, use ID tagged gear. Nanomachines inside their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities. Genetic control. Information control. Emotion control. Battlefield control. Everything is monitored, and kept under control. War has changed. The age of deterrence has become the age of control. All in the name of averting catastrophe from weapons of mass destruction. And he who controls the battlefield, controls history. War has changed. When the battlefield is under total control, war... becomes routine.

Liquid Ocelot: This is only the beginning, Snake. America will descend into chaos... It'll be the Wild West all over again. No law, no order. Fire will spread across the world. The people will fight... and through battle, they will know the fullness of life. At last... our father's will... his Outer Heaven... is complete.

Revolver Ocelot: You're pretty good...

Big Boss: Everything has its beginning. But doesn't start at "one." It starts long before that, in chaos. The world is born... from zero. The moment zero becomes one is the moment the world springs to life. One becomes two, two becomes ten, ten becomes 100. Taking it all back to one solves nothing. So long as Zero remains, one... will eventually grow to 100 again. And so our goal was to erase Zero. Even the mighty Patriots began with a single man. That one man's desires grew huge, bloated; absorbed technology; began to manipulate the economy. We realized too late that we had created a beast. We had helped turn Zero into 100. His sin... was ours. And for that reason, I'm taking it upon myself to send Zero... back to nothing. [...] It's not about changing the world. It's about doing our best to leave the world the way it is. It's about respecting the will of others and believing in your own. [...] Zero and I... Liquid and Solidus... We all fought a long, bloody war for our liberty to free ourselves from systems, nations, norms and ages, but no matter how hard we fought, the only liberty we found was on the inside, trapped within those limits... The Boss and I may have taken different paths but in the end, we were both trapped inside the same cage... "Liberty." But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be... Outside.

Paz: In school I also learned that peace is an unnatural state for human society. And that war is a constant threat to our relationship with others.Snake/Big Boss: That's right.Paz: So, to achieve peace, we have to create it ourselves. Crying about it won't bring it about, or make it last. Each one of us must go and seek it out.Snake/Big Boss: You won't find it without making sacrifices. No offense, but I don't know what peace is. Never felt what it's like. Never even been interested in it.

Snake/Big Boss: Chico, growing up means choosing how you're gonna live your life. [...] Treasure your memories, Chico. No matter what happens, keep them safe. [...] Nothing to be ashamed of. Pain gets the better of us all. [...] Remember, real heroes are never as polished as the legends that surround them.

Senator Armstrong: Played college ball, ya know.Raiden: At some cushy Ivy League school!Senator Armstrong: [Headbutts Raiden and pulls his visor off] Try University of Texas. Coulda gone pro if I hadn't joined the Navy! I'm not one of those beltway pansies. I could break the president in two… with my bare hands. Don't fuck with this senator![He kicks Raiden into the air like a football, cueing inexplicable cheering in the background]

Senator Armstrong: [To Raiden] Alright...the truth, then. You're right about one thing -- I do need capital, and votes! Wanna know why?! "I have a dream"!Raiden: What...?Senator Armstrong: That one day, every person in this nation will control their own destiny! A land of the truly free, dammit! A nation of action, not words -- ruled by strength, not committee! Where the law changes to suit the individual, not the other way around! Where power and justice are back where they belong, in the hands of the people! Where every man is free- to think, to act- for himself! Fuck all these limp-dick lawyers, and these chickenshit bureaucrats! Fuck this 24/7 internet spew of trivia and celebrity bullshit! Fuck American Pride -- fuck the media -- Fuck all of it! America is diseased -- rotten to the core...there's no saving it... We need to pull it out by the roots! Wipe the slate clean -- burn it down! And from the ashes a new America will be born! Evolved but untamed! The weak will be purged, and the strongest will thrive; free to live as they see fit! They'll make America great again!Raiden: What the hell are you talking about...Senator Armstrong: You still don't get it! I'm using war as a business to get elected! So I can end war as a business... In my new America, people will die and kill... for what they believe! Not for money, not for oil, not for what they're told is right! Every man will be free to fight his own wars! Hah... so, what do you think?Raiden: How the hell did you get elected...Senator Armstrong: Well, I don't write my own speeches. You should try fighting for what you believe in sometime, Jack. Not for a company, or a nation, or for anyone else.Raiden: Maybe I was wrong about you...Senator Armstrong: Am I finally getting through? [Helps Raiden up, offers his hand] I'll rid this world of pointless wars, Jack.Raiden: I was wrong. You're not greedy-[Shakes Armstrong's hand, moves in close.]Raiden: YOU'RE BATSHIT INSANE! (Commence boss battle)

Kazuhira Miller: [fuming at the IAEA inspection]THEY PLAYED US LIKE A DAMN FIDDLE!

Skull Face: I needed this place, to listen to the words people have to say. That's something they could never understand. [Skull Face walks up to a prisoner, who is groaning in agony]

Skull Face: You've done your part. You told us plenty. You've known the pain of ages. And even now you think, as any person would, that this can't be happening. Is it education? Morals, faith? Just an imprint of a lifetime of stories? Face to face with oblivion, which is where you are, and you still think that help is coming. The world you were born into is made to save you. Isn't that right? Of course it is. Everyone knows that. Until your last breath, you know it. Without the slightest chance or reason left to them, humans are capable of hope. I'm no different. But for one thing. When my time came calling I didn't die. My family died, my country died, but they didn't take me with them. All Hell took from me was this skin, this outer peel that marked me "human." My village had an oilseed field and a fine factory. Every day my friends and I would see our parents at work in that factory. That's all I had. All the world I knew. Then one day, aircraft came droning in from some far-off sky. The factory was bombed. Some... "spies" had told them we were making weapons. The building burned. We tried to flee outside. The crowd blocked the exit. The crowd of people. Hot. So hot. I tried to push through their legs and get ahead, but a boot in my stomach put me on the ground. The smoke of them burning filled me up. I heard my name called... but not for long. At the infirmary they carried me to, a nurse in the corner saw me and remarked, as if it happened every day: "They should let the poor thing die." Those are the only words of my mother tongue I remember. It was the language of my village. Until foreign troops invaded. Then the last identity I had left - the words I spoke - were pulled from me. My skin would never feel anything again. This face would be burned again, in torture, at foreign hands, but I, I still writhe in that burning factory. Doused in scalding rapeseed oil. That's all I have to feel, that pain - all I have to remind me I exist here.

Skull Face: Those "spies" reported well. We made weapons all right. As cartloads of rifles came in from the battlefields, we fixed them up and sent them back out. So our country could win. Or rather, so that little world we knew could continue. I came to realize I mustn't die. I'm their last hope, all those who perished and left me here. I have to accomplish something. If I don't, their will will be swept out of this world. [Skull Face proceeds to grab the prisoner]

Skull Face: So? Do you see me now? Tell me. What do you see? Hmm? You have eyes. What do your eyes see?

Skull Face: Yes, that's right. You see a skull face. You see me. This skull is who I am. My mark, my proof of humanity. I have no country, no language, I have no face, but I haven't lost my skull. So I told myself... The pain and effort that keep me alive will never know relief, never bear fruit, never be repaid. I know that, but I told myself to focus on some hope, a nonexistent hope to guide me through this burning world. A hope - call it a dream. A melancholic delusion. As the pressures within me stretch me to bursting, and I force myself not to cry out, though the words I thought were carved into me are gone, and all I knew is dead. I know how you feel. I've felt that. So show me. That I'm not the only one. That you too can return to this world, for revenge. Do you see me? Don't die. Don't die! [the Prisoner Dies]

Venom Snake:[Holding urn with the ashes of slain Diamond Dog soldiers] I won't scatter your sorrow to the heartless sea. I will always be with you. Plant your roots in me. [smears ashes on his face] I won't see you end as ashes. You're all diamonds.

Skull Face: Whatever the Navajo told you... it's just one possible solution derived by Cipher. My will is different. I've known you since your time at Langley. I've long been the other side of your coin. 1964, Soviet territory. FOX's first mission. Any mess you made, I was there to clean up. You completed your task - and admirably. The "information" you returned was far more than enough to fill our pockets. With it, our futures became - more or less - set in stone. And then the major came to me with an idea. "Washington doesn't know how to spend money," he said. "I'd like to... redirect it". His goal was an organization dedicated solely - covertly - to supporting America. Cipher. You know the rest. To him, it was mourning - the loss of his friend. Or rather, an act of revenge. On the world, but America most of all. America is a country of liberty. A meeting of immigrants. Instead of simply assimilating, its citizens live along side others. Their roots are varied. Diverse. America's never been made up of just one people. But he tried to forge a single consciousness. For it, and from it. The idea that every citizen would use free will to unite behind their country... Unilateralism like that can't be entrusted to any one individual. So the major sought a system which used information, words, to control the "subconscious". To unite America and the entire world. The major thought this was his friend's will. But I think he never understood what she wanted. Before he ever walked, or cried - even before he was born - his mother tongue was English. He doesn't know the pain of losing his own language. Not yet. He cannot understand her will. I do. I was born in a small village. I was still a child when we were raided by soldiers. Foreign soldiers. Torn from my elders, I was made to speak their language. With each new post, my masters changed, along with the words they made me speak. Words are... peculiar. With each change, I changed too. My thoughts, personality, how I saw right and wrong... War changed me - and not only my visage. Words can kill. I was invaded by words, burrowing and breeding inside me. A philosopher once said, "It is no nation we inhabit, but a language." "Make no mistake, our native tongue is our true fatherland." My fatherland - my truth was stolen from me. And so was my past. All that's left is the future. And mine is revenge. On those who'd leech off the words of their fellow man. This is what I learned from the major. And then it hit me. It was he who should feel my wrath. He and the code he chose as basis for control. Language codes, information codes - beamed all around us - genetic codes spanning history. By controlling the codes, Cipher... Zero intends to unify the world. Codes implanted into our heads, sucking our minds dry as it spreads from one host to the next. A parasite upon the earth. That is what Zero is. As one born into this world, he's afflicted. I hold him responsible for killing my freedom. Killing all traces of my past... Killing any promise of a future... We are all but dead men forced to walk upon this earth. A world reduced to Zero. Cipher plans to use its codes to control the world. They think they can. And the "mother tongue" of all those codes is English. The word became flesh. The final parasite. It knows English. An English strain of the vocal cord parasite. I will exterminate the English language. With this, I'll rid the world of infestation. All men will breathe free again - reclaim their past, present, and future. This is no ethnic cleanser. It is a "liberator," to free the world from Zero. Let the world be. Sans lingua franca, the world will be torn asunder. And then, it shall be free. People will suffer, of course - a phantom pain. The world will need a new common tongue. A language of nukes. My Metal Gears shall be the thread by which all countries are bound together, in equality. No words will be needed. Every man will be forced to recognize his neighbor. People will swallow their pain. They will link lost hands. And the world will become one. This war is peace.

Skull Face: You too have known loss. And that loss torments you still. You hope hatred... might someday replace the pain. But it never goes away. It makes a man hideous inside and out. Wouldn't you agree? We both are demons. Our humanity won't return. You. Me. We've no place to run, nowhere to hide. And that is why I will show you my demon.

I was making games like Policenauts, and I heard rumors about a console on which polygons could be created in real time. This really grabbed my attention, since one of the major attractions of games is the sensation of action, and I was intrigued to see what I could achieve with those polygons. Metal Gear is a hide-and-seek game, and the thought of doing this while adding a camera that could change position really excited me. So I stopped making script-based games and went back to asking for favors from programmers for this 3D world.

I was a designer for Metal Gear Solid, but I was not a producer, so I had no say in the budget, release date, or promotion of the game. I remember when they told me what the release date would be and I had no say in the matter… these are bitter memories for me.

Metal Gear Solid sold well throughout the world; it was a great success. When I heard about the hardware for the PlayStation 2, I wanted to try something new. Up to that point, all cutscenes had focused more on details like facial expressions, but I wanted to pay more attention to the surroundings, to see how much I could change them in real time. Current games like Call of Duty have followed this trend of making your surroundings more realistic.

While MGS2 sold well, many fans of Snake were upset that Raiden was the main protagonist; we received a lot of complaints about that. There were also comments about the story unfolding too quickly; it created quite a stir. With this in mind, we created Snake Eater.

At the time, I was not just a designer but also a manager, in charge of the studio. We were therefore able to develop several projects at once, such as Boktai, Zone of the Enders, and The Twin Snakes. I thought it would be very hard for me to develop Snake Eater as the lead creator, so I tried to delegate responsibilities to younger employees in the studio. In the end it couldn’t be done, but it was my first attempt in doing it.

The PlayStation 3 was quite a complex system; games had to be developed in three levels. By the end of the Metal Gear Solid 4 project we had nearly 200 people working on it, with three directors (although often they were directors in name only, and I ended up doing a lot). This is why the game was delayed.

We made MGS4 according to a very Japanese method. At the time, the trend was for open-world games, but we decided to pay no attention to this and take another path. I already felt the need to create something similar to what we are doing with the Fox Engine.